Chapter 20
They walked into an office full of people. Monroe was still there speaking to Willow, Tori and Ronin were in the small kitchenette off the reception, and Hudson, Garth, and Fenton had returned.
Cece kept a smile planted on her face even though she was suddenly terrified that Briggs was about to lose his job. Mal made her anxiety worse when he indicated for Tori, Garth, and Fenton to join them.
“While the three of you are here, let’s discuss coverage for Cece.”
“Oh, uh, I’m good with just Briggs,” Cece said quickly.
“Briggs will be taking Wednesday and Thursday off, so we’ll need someone to cover for him,” Mal said.
“I’m good,” Briggs said. “I don’t need the time off.”
“I think you do,” Mal said.
“I don’t,” Briggs said.
“Lucky for me, I’m the boss,” Mal said.
A low growl escaped Briggs’s throat, and Mal stared steadily at him. “We can continue this discussion in private once we’re finished here.”
“Fine,” Briggs bit out.
Mal turned to Tori. “Tori, I’d like you to stay with Cece while Briggs is off, if you’re good with that?”
“I am,” Tori said.
“I’d prefer it to be Hudson,” Briggs said. “No offense, Tori.”
“Oh, all the offense taken, buddy,” Tori said before giving him the bird and an amused grin.
“I appreciate your input, but Hudson is on another job, and Tori is available,” Mal said.
“Ronin, then,” Briggs said.
“The fuck, dude?” Tori said.
“Ronin isn’t working this week,” Mal said.
Cece glanced at Briggs, her stomach tightening at the look of anger edged with embarrassment on his face. Shit, she hated that he was in conflict with his boss because of her. She needed to fix this asap.
Plastering a big smile on her face, she said, “I’m happy to have Tori stay with me for a couple of days, thank you, Mal. I do need to warn you that it’s pretty cold in my house, though, Tori.”
“I’ll layer,” Tori said cheerfully.
“Cece, were you able to take some time off from work?” Mal asked.
Cece shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I don’t have any vacation time left, and I can’t afford to take unpaid time off. I’ve already told my boss I’ll be back to work tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Mal turned to Garth and Fenton. “We’ll add the two of you to keep an eye on Cece while she’s at the greenhouse, along with Tori.”
“What? No,” Cece said quickly. “I don’t need extra security.”
“It’s a big greenhouse, and -”
“No,” Cece said. “I’m not using more of your resources for free, Mal.”
Briggs frowned at her. “Little witch, it’s for -”
“I said no,” she snapped. “In fact, with the protection spell now, and the fact that it’s doubtful that the witch who is after me would try anything in public, security while I’m working won’t be necessary.”
“That’s not fucking happening,” Briggs growled.
“Look, my boss is a good guy, but he’ll find it weird if you or Tori or whoever are following me around the greenhouse my entire shift.”
“Not my problem,” Briggs said. “I’m not leaving you alone at the greenhouse. Any one of the customers in there could be the witch trying to hurt you.”
“The protection spell will keep me safe,” Cece said.
“You know that’s not completely true, Cece.” Monroe joined them.
“What do you mean?” Briggs asked.
Cece had never wanted to hex someone into silence more than she did Monroe.
“Like I told Mal when we were discussing the protection spells, it will work to harm and prevent death from an attack, but repeated attacks can chip away at it, weaken it and make it less effective. Eventually, a powerful enough witch can break the spell completely,” Monroe said.
“Like the fight between Elora and that insane dark witch,” Ronin said. “Elora had a protection spell on Jonah, and that crazy ass witch broke it and nearly killed him. You were there, Cece. I’m sure you remember.”
“Ronin, hush,” she said.
“Just being helpful,” he said with a grin.
“You’re about to be the recipient of a very nasty sour jar spell,” she said.
He laughed. “Play nice, tiny tree witch.”
“Dark witch?” Monroe turned to Ronin. “What dark witch?”
“Did I say dark witch?” Ronin gave him an innocent look. “I don’t remember saying dark witch.”
Monroe studied Cece, and when she didn’t say anything, he said, “The protection spell will help to keep you safe, but Briggs’s size and strength, combined with his protection spell, could allow him to potentially get the best of a witch before she weakened the spell on either of you enough to hurt you seriously. ”
He glanced at Tori. “Which is why it’s probably best to have either him or Hudson with her. You’re, um, pretty small.”
“Eh, I’m tougher than I look,” she said with a grin.
“You’re a bunny shifter,” Monroe said.
“A bunny shifter who could kill a man with nothing but a paper clip and a can-do attitude.” Ronin held out his fist to Tori, who bumped it.
“Right. Anyway, the point is, yes, the protection spell will help, but if the witch or witches who are after you are as powerful as Mal says they are, you can’t rely on it alone. You know that, Cece,” Monroe said.
“Fine,” she sighed. “But only one person at my job. Please, Mal.”
“Okay,” he said. “Why don’t you grab a coffee from the kitchen while Briggs and I chat in my office?”
Her anxiety about Briggs losing his job returned with a vengeance, and she gave Briggs a worried look. He didn’t look worried, but she could see his tension in the stiffness of his neck and shoulders.
Willow put her arm around Cece’s shoulders and gave her a soft squeeze. “C’mon, Cece. I’ll make you a coffee and then make it weird by asking you to describe the taste in great detail with every sip you take.”
Cece smiled faintly and, with one final look at Briggs, followed Willow to the kitchen.
“Are you sure a little salt will stop other witches from coming in?” Briggs studied the salt sprinkled along the windowsill in the kitchen and along the door leading to the backyard.
Monroe had just left, and while Briggs was grateful for his help, his bear was still annoyed by the warlock’s attraction to Cece. Briggs spent most of the hour Monroe was at the house, convincing his bear not to tear off the warlock’s head.
“Well, it’s more than just salt,” Cece said. “Monroe’s incantations and spells are part of the protection.”
“Right.” Briggs sat down at the table. Cece was looking through a big leather book, and she picked up the paper with Monroe’s potion requests on it and read through it again before flipping the thick ivory pages of the book.
“Is that a potions book?” Briggs asked.
Cece nodded. “Yes. I’m pretty sure all of the potions Monroe asked for are in this book, but I want to confirm. If they aren’t, I’ll have to look them up online. I need to go to Charissa’s potion shop this week to pick up some supplies. She’s open late on Thursday, so I can go after work.”
“Give me the address of the potions shop,” Briggs said. “I’ll do some security checks of the parking lot and surrounding area before I take you there on Thursday.”
“It won’t be you,” Cece said, flipping another page, “Tori’s on security duty that day.”
She didn’t sound the least bit upset that he wouldn’t be with her, and his bear made a very undignified whimper at his mate’s casualness.
That casual tone still in her voice, she looked up at him. “Unless you convinced Mal you didn’t need time off?”
“He wouldn’t budge,” Briggs said.
Obvious disappointment flooded her face, and his bear perked up, growling happily and acting like a cub given a handful of fat grubs.
“That’s a good thing, right? A person shouldn’t be working twenty-four/seven,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Yeah,” she echoed with a soft sigh. “Will you tell me what Mal said in your meeting? Did you, um, get in trouble?”
“Nah,” he lied. “It was about something else.”
She gave him a look, and he said, “Fine, it was about you, but I didn’t get in trouble.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” she asked.
He just shrugged. There was no fucking way he would ever tell Cece about his conversation with Mal.
Mal had been nice about it, but he’d made it clear that Briggs’s behaviour was unprofessional before they’d had to veer into an incredibly uncomfortable conversation about Briggs’s attraction to Cece and the inappropriateness of sleeping with a client.
Briggs had spent five long, sweaty minutes convincing Mal that the conduit thing wasn’t an issue and he could handle it.
In the end, Mal hadn’t outright taken him off of Cece’s security detail, but he’d made it clear that this was Briggs’s last chance and that Mal wouldn’t hesitate to replace him.
Briggs’s plan to argue the forced two days off had gone out the window.
He knew how damn lucky he was that Mal hadn’t pulled him off the job.
His bear would probably lose his fucking shit for the entire two days, but Briggs would deal with it.
Better for it to be just two days than to be separated from his mate permanently.
He muttered a curse as his bear growled with satisfaction. Now his fucking bear had him calling Cece his goddamn mate. Maybe the two days away would actually be a good thing. Allow him to get his fucking head straight and potentially even talk some sense into his bear.
“Briggs?” Cece said.
“Sorry. Up in my head for a minute. It’s fine, Cece. I’m not losing my job.”
She still looked worried but let it drop. Unfortunately, he didn’t like what she said next either. “We should talk about the mate thing from earlier.”
“That was my bear,” he said quickly. “The conduit thing has him confused, and he thinks you’re our mate.”
“Oh,” she said. “He told you that?”
Only every fucking hour, he wanted to say, but didn’t. “Yeah. Our bears are possessive, so smelling the warlock’s attraction to you pissed him off. I usually have more control over him, but the conduit thing has really amped him up about this mate thing.”
“So, he talks to you?” Cece asked with a look of fascination.
“Sort of. Not really, but yeah,” he said.
She laughed, and he gave her a rueful grin. “It’s hard to explain. Anyway, my bear will chill out once he realizes what he’s feeling isn’t real. He’ll get over the mate thing.”
He could smell her irritation immediately.
“Right,” she said before slamming the book shut and standing. “It’s late, I’m going to bed.”
“It’s only eight,” he said.
“I didn’t sleep well last night, and I’m tired and cold,” she said. “Good night, Briggs.”
She left the kitchen with stiff shoulders and a thick scent of annoyance.
Briggs leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling. Was Cece actually annoyed that his bear would eventually stop seeing her as his mate?
Briggs woke to the sound of soft rustling. He opened his eyes, his night vision kicking in instantly, and immediately rolled off the bed and onto the floor. Seconds later, there was a soft thump as the plants dropped Cece onto his bed.
He sat up as the vines reached for him, trailing along his shoulders and upper arms. He growled at them, and they shrank back, hovering a few feet above the bed.
He reached for his phone. It was just after midnight, and he set his phone back on the nightstand before staring at Cece.
She was still sound asleep, wearing her usual hoodie and flannel pajamas, and he briefly debated waking her up before deciding against it.
She often talked about needing a lot of sleep, and she had to work in the morning.
Cece muttered something in her sleep before tucking her glowing hands into her armpits and curling into a tight ball.
The cold room didn’t bother him one bit, but he didn’t doubt that she was freezing.
He stood and headed out of his room, following the trail of vines hovering in the hallway toward her room.
He returned with the mountain of blankets she kept on her bed, growling again when he saw that the plants had already wrapped around her and were lifting her off the bed.
“Put her down,” he snapped.
They dropped her on the bed and retreated, waving and undulating in the cold air.
Briggs set the blankets on the bed and snarled at the vines, stalking toward them and herding the damn things out of the room with a few slaps of his hands against them and more low growling.
He shut the door, rolling his eyes when the handle immediately turned.
He locked the door and returned to the bed, piling the blankets on the sleeping Cece and keeping one for himself.
He stole the extra pillow and stretched out on the floor, draping the blanket over his lower body and staring at the ceiling as he listened to the vines slithering and sliding over the door, and the rattling of the handle as they tugged at it every few seconds.
Above him, Cece made another soft mutter, and the bed squeaked as she shifted positions. He breathed in a deep lungful of her sweet scent and ignored his polar bear’s pleading to join her in the bed.
Christ, it would be a long fucking night.